From jackrabbit to wolf

NSU interim president will serve as bridge from past to future

NSU interim president will serve as bridge from past to future

August 26, 2008|By Elissa Dickey, edickey@aberdeennews.com

Can a jackrabbit become a wolf? Laurie Stenberg Nichols, Northern State University interim president and former South Dakota State University dean, brought up this profound question on Monday. “I want to assure you that it is possible,” Nichols told the roughly 150 people attending her convocation address at Northern's Johnson Fine Arts Center. To prove it, Nichols presented NSU Athletic Director Bob Olson with a check so she could become a member of the Wolves Club - to thunderous applause. As an official Wolf, Nichols thanked Northern's faculty, staff and students for their warm welcome; congratulated them on their successes; and urged them to look to the future. The convocation is a kick-off to the new school year. Classes begin Sept. 2 at Northern. A focus on recruitment and retention has paid off for NSU, Nichols said. Preliminarily, with 405 registered freshmen as of Monday, the class is the strongest the university has seen in the past six years, representing a 22-percent increase from this time last year, Nichols said. Final enrollment numbers will come from the state Board of Regents' office in mid-September. Nichols also applauded Northern for the recent announcement that the university is again ranked the second best of its kind in the Midwest by U.S. News & World Report. She recognized the NSU Foundation and its Wolf Pack Scholarship, which provides more than $600,000 in scholarships to the Northern campus. She also acknowledged a Northern custodian, who does not want to be identified, who, on his own time, collected and sold scrap metal from the Seymour Hall demolition - and started an endowment with the more than $11,000. Nichols introduced her husband, Tim, dean of the honors college at SDSU, who was visiting Northern for the first time. “Tim is calling himself the 'First Gent' at Northern,” Nichols said, sparking laughter from the audience. She evoked more laughter when she said their daughters, Jordan, 14, and Hannah, 12, were also in Aberdeen, but opted to go to Wylie Park instead of her speech. Nichols said a lot of people have asked her what she will do this year, and what an interim president can do. She used the metaphor of a bridge - which joins two sides together and is essential to travel and continuing progress. “I will (serve) for you as a bridge from your past leadership to your future leadership,” Nichols said. “... I want to be a bridge to a brighter future for Northern.”